This invention relates generally to photographic film processing, and more particularly to a compact, energy efficient apparatus and a method for processing such film.
Processing of film, requires chemically treating the film followed by rinsing and drying. The chemical treatment typically involves the application of a series of specific chemical agents, in a specific order, with the film being exposed to each treating chemical for minimum amounts of time. To obtain this processing, the film being treated is typically passed through a series of treatment tanks and into the dryer area. One such prior art device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,221 to Takase et al., issued Sep. 23, 1986.
But the known prior art devices suffer two principle disadvantages: 1) the exposure requirements of certain treating chemicals, such as the developing solution, require relatively large treatment tanks, and 2) the drying process requires enormous amounts of energy. As a result, the known film processing devices are large and cumbersome, and are also extremely expensive to use due to high energy consumption. The known prior art also either requires the use of custom, proprietary drive belts which are costly to replace, or a multiplicity of gears and drive shafts which undesirably increase maintenance costs. Finally, the known film processing equipment either requires separate additional drive mechanisms or undesirably permits significant amounts of the treating chemicals to be transferred, either by the drive mechanism or the film being processed, to subsequent treatment tanks thereby increasing the consumption of the treating chemicals and causing contamination of the treating chemicals found in subsequent tanks.
There is need for a compact and energy efficient apparatus of the present invention, which enables rapid and energy efficient automatic processing of photographic film, as during its exposure to different liquids or solutions, prior to a final drying stage which uses standard drive belts to move the film through the processing equipment and which minimizes cross-tank contamination caused when the film carries treatment chemicals to subsequent treatment tanks.